Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695) was an English composer. His style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest English opera composers, Purcell is often linked with John Dunstaple and William Byrd as England's most important early music composers. No later native-born English composer approached his fame until Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, William Walton and Benjamin Britten in the 20th century.

For the annual celebrations of St Cecilia’s Day in 1694 Purcell did not produce an ode (which would have been his fifth dedicated to the patron saint of music) but instead produced a setting of the Te Deum and Jubilate which was performed in St Bride’s Church in Fleet Street. Being a major musical occasion, Purcell utilised not only a full string orchestra but also added the brilliant colour of two trumpets to texts which are often celebratory. But alongside the spacious visions of heaven echoing to choirs of angels the texts also have moments of intimacy, giving Purcell an ideal vehicle in which to display his greatest skills, both in compositional devices and in word-painting. Despite the grandeur of the sections for full choir and orchestra it is perhaps the chamber movements which contain the greatest gems.

Whilst in his setting of the Te Deum Purcell utilises for the most part quite short sections (perhaps because he has a lot of text to set), in the shorter Jubilate he achieves longer musical spans. The opening is an extended duet between the countertenor and a solo trumpet, quite restrained in its joyfulness except in three interruptions by the full orchestra and choir. Once again it is in the more pastoral movements that Purcell shines best, with the duet between boy treble and countertenor ‘Be ye sure that the Lord he is God’ an especially touching one in its simplicity: Purcell’s use of sequence and gentle harmony creates a movement full of pathos. Next comes a rather austere four-part canon, ‘O go your way into his gates’ which is followed by an extended duet for countertenor and bass; again the plea for mercy draws Purcell into particularly effective writing.

The contrapuntal techniques employed in the Gloria are quite breathtaking. First the theme is treated to close imitation (‘Glory be to the Father’), then is inverted and imitated (‘Glory be to the Son’) and then, at ‘World without end’ a new theme is added, treated to the same techniques as before but also stretched out in the bass in a huge and powerful augmentation. At the final Amen the strands come together and, with the trumpets’ entries soaring above the whole choir and orchestra, a work of great technical and musical ingenuity ends in a blaze of sound.

Source: Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Purcell).

Although originally composed for Voices (SSATTB) & Mixed Chorus (SAATB), and Orchestra (2 Trumpets, Strings w/o Viola & Continuo), I created this interpretation of the "Te Deum and Jubilate" (Z.232) for Winds (Flute, Oboe, English Horn, French Horn & Bassoon) & Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).